Real Estate News: Probe Widens Into Mortgage Lenders

House of the Day: The owner of this 8-acre property in New York’s Westchester County used the remnants of an old dairy barn to create this country cottage.

Here is a look at real-estate news in Thursday’s WSJ:

Probe Widens Into Mortgage Lenders: Federal officials are broadening their investigations of mortgage lenders that use a popular federally backed mortgage program, a move that could force more banks to pick up some of the rising tab for losses at the Federal Housing Administration.

Fresh Risk to Europe’s Growth: Banks Cut Lending to Cities: As France’s new president, François Hollande, tackles the many challenges posed by the deepening euro-zone crisis, from Spain’s troubled banking system to Greece’s potential exit from the currency union, here’s the latest: Many municipalities can’t fund their investment projects.

Revised NYU Plan Proceeds: The New York City Planning Commission voted 12-1 on Wednesday to approve a pared-down version of New York University’s Greenwich Village expansion plans.

Aid for Supportive Housing Boosted: City and state agencies in New York are collaborating to create hundreds of new units of so-called supportive housing aimed at the homeless.

LIRR Faces New Delay: Brooklyn Train Yard: The developers of the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn have delayed construction on a new train storage yard, one of the many public benefits that had been promised in order to win public approval for a professional basketball arena and housing development at the site.

House of the Day: The owner of this 8-acre property in New York’s Westchester County used the remnants of an old dairy barn to create this country cottage.